My parents read the newspaper every morning. In Miami it was the Miami Herald and now on Bainbridge Island its the Seattle Times. But I don't think they have ever written a letter to the editor of a newspaper (I may be wrong on that). So that's why it was all the more surprising to see a letter from my father in the Travel section of the Times this past weekend. Apparently the paper asked for stories of the early days of commercial flights and my dad wrote about his experiences in the 1940's going to Nigeria.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2004461775_trolddays08.html
A slow and mesmerizing flight to West Africa

I made my first airline flight at the age of 14 in 1949. My father worked in Nigeria in West Africa, and I was going out to spend the summer vacation from school with my family. (The final days of the Empire!)

In those days, BOAC (later British Airways) had a large office near the center of London. All the check-in procedures (including the weighing of each passenger with his or her luggage) took place there, and travelers, unburdened by suitcases, took a shuttle coach out to Heathrow Airport.

At Heathrow we boarded an Avro York, a derivative of the wartime Lancaster bomber, which was unpressurized and limited to altitudes less than 10,000 feet. As a 14-year-old, I was enthralled watching the scenery marching past at a stately 250 mph or so.

The first leg took us to Tripoli in Libya. While the aircraft refueled, we disembarked and ate a leisurely dinner in the airport restaurant. The next leg, an overnight flight across the Sahara Desert, took us to the walled city of Kano in northern Nigeria for another refueling stop. After breakfast we reboarded for the final leg to Lagos' Ikeja Airport. Again, a fascinating panorama as the scenery below metamorphosed from tan desert to green rain forest.

The whole journey took 24 hours. I've since flown similar routes in a third the time, but you lose something when you fly twice as fast and four times as high.

— Gerald Williams, Bainbridge Island

This was when he was 14 and he did it on his own. When I was 14 and traveled alone, I was escorted by a flight attendant 2 inches shorter than me to ensure that I stayed safe. I was only flying from Heathrow to Miami...how much trouble could I get into? Its not like I was going to Tripoli, or Lagos.

Well, its pretty exciting for me to see my dad's name in print...

As someone who travels quite a bit, I think I am getting pretty good at it. In fact, I have come up with a list of things I have to take along on every trip. Now occasionally I forget one of these, but usually you will find every single one of these things in my bag or a jacket pocket at any time while I am away from home:

Rick Steves Travel Dreams Sleep Mask - I used to think these things were useless. That's because every one I tried came in the free bag on some airlines. Those are often made of a single piece of cloth with one or two strands of elastic to hold onto your head. The elastic manages to pull the mask in so tight that it compresses my eyeballs towards the back of my skull...not exactly comfy. And if I open my eyes while covered, the eyelashes scrape against the cloth and it just feels too weird. But then on one of my trips to my parents in Bainbridge Island we took a day trip over to Edmonds, WA and visited the Rick Steves Store. You know, the guy who travels around Europe and has that PBS show. So my mother got excited about their Eye Mask and for some reason I bought one too. It turns out this is the most perfect eye mask ever made. Its a contoured foam mask that bulges out where the eyes go. Yes, it looks goofy, but the only people who are going to see it are the ones who are pissed that they don't have one because they will see that you are sound asleep while they have to pace the aisles. Its less than 10 dollars. Buy one. Now.

Melatonin - You may be thinking that even if you get one of those masks, you still won't be able to sleep. Your time zones are all off and even though it is midnight where you are going, its noon where you are coming from so its time for lunch, not napping. Yeah, I had that problem, especially when flying to Sydney or Singapore. Then a colleague told me about Melatonin. Around the same time I saw an article about it in the New York Times. The article presents a schedule which is confusing as hell, but here is the gist of it. Take a dose of this stuff when its night time where you are going. Apparently the effect can wear off if you use it a lot, but I only touch this on the plane. So when I fly to Sydney, usually via the US, I stay awake as long as I can while its daytime in Sydney. Then when I leave Los Angeles, its about 10 or so at night in Sydney so I pop a pill. And then I am out. Until a couple of hours before landing. Its perfect. Last time around I was ready to go that day versus having to sleep for a day in Sydney. But I only take it on the plane, and I only take it when it is time for bed where ever I am going. I don't understand why it works and I don't care. When going somewhere that's 12 hours off my current time, its a godsend. If your country doesn't allow over-the-counter sales, find an online "pharmacy", there are plenty willing to sell it.

Sony PRS 500 Portable Reader - Last time I was in the US I saw one of these units and bought it on a lark. I planned to return it before I left because I knew it would suck. It didn't so I didn't. This thing has become one of the most important items in my bag. On long flights when I am not sleeping, or watching one of the movies for the tenth time, I read. Before I used to take two books, some magazines, and maybe some printouts of the classes I was scheduled to teach. Add that to a laptop and all the other stuff I carry and the bag was over the legal limit. Now I just take the Sony EReader. The device will last for about a month on a single charge and holds some 70 to 100 books including a few PDFs. I have seen some reviews saying that you can't read a PDF, but I don't know what they are talking about. Sure you have to pan around to see it all, but its a helluva lot better than breaking my shoulder. Everyone who sees this thing is amazed at how good it looks and is shocked that they haven't seen it before. Its thin, light, very high contrast, and reads just like a book. Some people suggest that a PDA or phone is good enough for this task, but those run out of power within a few hours and this thing just keeps going. Seriously, I charge it about once per month. I think there is a new version out now and Amazon has come out with the Kindle which is supposed to be a competitor. But the Kindle relies on an EVDO connection from Sprint which is only available in the US, so it won't work for me or the many other international ebook readers out there. In order to buy books from the Sony site you have to have a credit card which does not have a non-US address which could be a problem for some. But some international cards don't allow vendors to verify an address so that may not be a problem. I love this thing and tell everyone who takes long flights to get one immediately.

Shure e5c (discontinued) or Bose QuietComfort headphones - I alternate between these two sets of headphones depending on how much stuff I have to carry on that trip. The Bose are definitely bigger but they are much more comfortable on a long trip. The Shure's are smaller and they block out far more noise but after 8 hours, can be a bit uncomfortable. The Bose have the additional benefit of being a bit cheaper at about 300 dollars. But if you are spending any time on a plane, its just a required cost. Unfortunately they are not perfect. There is a better solution out there but I can't afford it right now. Until February that is...thats when I stop paying both rent and mortgage. Then I will definitely be getting a pair of the Ultimate Ears UE11.

REI Flash UL Pack - Whether I need to pick up some basic supplies or want to carry my souvenirs back to the hotel, this small daypack always saves the day. The real benefit is that I use it to line the bottom of my small camera bag so it only comes out when really necessary. When I am home in Amsterdam, this gets my groceries home from Albert Hein.

Status Cards - I never leave home with out my United 1K, Northwest GoldElite, Starwood Platinum, etc cards. Sure, electronically its all in my records, but the cards make it even easier to ensure an upgrade. Plus Lufthansa and some other airlines won't let me into their lounges without the physical card.

Airport Security cards - Many airports are now offering some sort of card combined with biometrics to make it faster to enter and leave the country. Amsterdam's Privium often saves me from an endless line to get into the gate area when I am running late for a flight. And with my new EGate card from United Arab Emirates (don't bother signing up at the airport, go to the location listed on the site at Sheikh Zayed Road), I went from the taxi to the gate in 20 minutes, including the 10 minute walk to the terminals. That usually takes more like an hour or so. Privium requires an EU passport and 100 Euros per year, EGate is for anyone and costs 200 Dirhams for 2 years, the UK's IRIS is free but never works.

So that's my list of basics. I also carry a laptop, some extra drives, cables, camera, etc, but all of those are obvious. I also carry a Zen Vision:M media player for music so that I don't have to waste my time with that horrible excuse for a software product called iTunes.

Is there anything I have missed? Is there something else I should be carrying that I forgot about? I am always interested in a new gadget...it'll just have to wait until February when I stop paying rent.

If you can, try to get a flight to Dubai that arrives midday. If you come late at night or early in the morning, then get ready to wait for a very long time to get through customs. Usually I have taken one of KLM's direct flights from Amsterdam, but this time I did Lufthansa via Munich (less than half the cost). It arrived at 630 this morning and the airport was a zoo. When I arrived at the customs hall, nearly every line was being used (easily 50-70 lines) with at least 40 people in each line. The customs officials are extremely efficient at what they do and the lines move quickly (unless they don't (I saw that on the plane)).

There are however two quick sets of lines. One is for GCC passports and the other is for EGate. If you don't know what GCC is, then you don't have one of their passports. But EGate is a service offered by the government to get you through customs more quickly. Anyone can sign up and it costs 200 Dirhams for 2 years. There is a registration desk inside the customs hall. If you are standing in line, look in the back left corner. But every time I have gone to the desk, there has been no one there.

Today one of my colleagues in Dubai took me round to one of the ECard offices in the city and I was able to sign up within 20 minutes. Apparently, the next time I go through customs, I will be able to scan my card, then press my thumb to the scanner, and be through customs in less than two minutes. I am SOOO looking forward to trying it. From the looks of it, it is almost always up and running too, which is a foreign concept to the similar solution at Heathrow. Another benefit is that I will be able to limit the number of stamps with arabic script in my passport. That always seems to give me grief when I head back to the US.

There I was on the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Amsterdam two nights ago. Its a 13 hour flight that I mostly got through via a 8 hour melatonin-induced sleep. But that still left 5 hours to waste. With the interactive video system I was able to kill some more time. I sped to that good scene in Gladiator where he takes off the helmet and gives Commodus an "oh shit" moment. I watched a making of segment on the "300", which was a terrible movie that I watched on the way out to Sydney. But a highlight was on the "On Demand TV" channel. They had an episode of "30 Rock". I had never seen this show as it isn't on in The Netherlands...at least I don't think it is. I became one of those people I hate on the plane. You know, the guy who laughs out loud for 30 minutes. The guy who can't control himself and involves everyone else. Yeah, that was me. Unfortunately, they only had the pilot episode, but last night I was able to load up the first season in my bittorrent client and this morning I started watching. I just watched the second episode and there was a 1 second reference to the clip of a monkey smelling his butt then fainting. A quick search on the net and I found the classic video. Yeah, you know the one. Go ahead and do a Google search for "monkey smells butt and faints". Or just click here. I am on my 15th viewing this morning and still laughing out loud...

I am typing this in the middle of the worst journey of my life. The overall trip has been great, but this leg, or set of legs, is painfully bad. It started this morning at 6AM at the Le Meridien in Siem Reap in Cambodia. Thats when I checked out of my fairly opulent hotel and got onto the free transport provided by the boat company. The plan was that this van would take me to a small boat. Due to the low water levels, this small boat would take me to a bigger boat that would go all the way to Phnom Penh. But I am already getting ahead of myself.

The van that picked me up had room for maybe 8 people plus a driver. So for the two people already on board plus me, it was a spacious ride. After my hotel we stopped at another to get two more, then two more at another hotel. Two more....two more...two more. Yeah, I know....thats 13 plus luggage and I said there was room for 8. Well, we stopped again to get the last person. Then we drove down a very bumpy road for about 30 minutes to the dock. Now when I say dock, i may be exagerating just a bit. Maybe mosquito-infested sewage dump is a better description. They checked our tickets and we got on board this tiny boat, but as I mentioned, I was expecting this. 

Turns out that some of the van riders were for a different boat, but two other trucks met us there. In all we had about 21 going with us to Phnom Penh. Based on the picture of the boat on the ticket, that wouldn't be a problem. So we all squeezed onto this small boat which was about 20 feet long by about 4 or 5 feet wide. After about 30 minutes of sitting in these tight quarters, the little shuttle boat started moving. On the trip out, one of the other passengers joked that we would be in this boat for the next four hours. We all nervously laughed it off. But an hour into the ride we started to realize he may be right. Four hours later we wished he were right. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.

This boat ride was taking us down a massive freshwater lake called the Tonle Sap. The wet season began a couple days ago, so we are basically at the end of 6 months of dry. The lake water levels probably wont get any lower. I was told this would mean that the boat would have to take a longer route to avoid the really shallow parts. It turns out what they meant to tell me was that they would actually use a boat meant for 6 people to carry 21 to Phnom Penh over 200 km south.

In a recent post I mentioned how much better Singapore Airlines is for leg room compared to other airlines. Well even the worst of airline seats (those on American and KLM come to mind) are cavernous compared to what we were stuck with on this boat. Every now and then we would have to stand to stretch our legs...but you couldnt stand upright because the roof was only 4 foot high. You could sit on the gunwhale of the boat, but then the driver would honk the horn to get your attention so that he could wave you off. Sitting on the gunwhale threw off the balance of the boat and it would turn to the left or right.

So three hours into this ride and we started to compare notes. Some had heard that this was a four hour journey, others heard it was closer to 6. Looking at the map of the Tonle Sap we could see that when we transitioned to a river from the lake we reached the half way point. But we seemed to be heading towards open water for the forseeable future, so we were nowhere close to half way. About an hour and a half later, we had reached this river section. This was good and bad. It told us we were half done, but it also said we should expect another four and a half hours. This is becoming the journey that just won't end.

After  a short while we pulled off into a little floating village. If it weren't hot as hell, humid like a rain forest, or covered in trash, it might be quaint. But as it was all of those things....hmmm, whats the right word to describe this....ahhh, yes: shithole!!! But I was relieved to see that we were starting to pull in to the shore. I was also puzzled to see the tour bus waiting by the waters edge. It seems that the driver of the boat had given up and arranged for a bus to take us the rest of the way. We got on board at 12 noon. And then the driver told us how much longer we had to go. THREE MORE HOURS!!!

And the first 30 minutes would be traveling down a 10 mile pothole. I am surprised no one threw up. An hour later we reached our first bathroom break of the trip. Based on the looks of what was being sold there, I hope no one had to go. As another hour went by I started to get excited that the trip was almost over. Although we were no longer on the dirt track, the pavement didn't turn out to be much smoother. But then smoke started to come through the air vents. We pulled over so the driver could take a look at the engine. A few people got off the bus to wander a bit. I stayed on board. Moments later the driver was back, honked the horn, and waited for everyone to board. About a mile or two down the road, someone noticed that one of the seats on the bus was empty. There was definitely someone there before. We found him somewhere between where we stopped and where we figured out what happened. He must have had a momentary burst of energy as he saw his bus pull away and chased after us.

Another hour and we were in Phnom Penh. As we pulled into the parking lot of the dock we werent sure what was happening. We could see our boat...well, the one that was on the ticket so some of us were figuring that we would be transitioning back to the boat for the final few miles. But no, this was it. My first opinions of this town were far from positive.

I wrote much of the above while sitting on the bus, but then the last few paragraphs came from my hotel. I thought a quick mention of that is relevant to this post. The reviews of this hotel were stellar. The guidebook rated this as one of the top 5 places to stay in Phnom Penh. The testimonials on the website were amazing so I was looking forward to my stay at the Foreign Correspondents Club. I must be staying in a different FCC from the one I heard about. I have a bed that is hard as a rock, the noise outside is deafening, the door won't fully close and it opens almost directly onto the street, the balcony door doesn't lock, the in-room safe is tiny and required having someone come up to show me how to use it, internet is free but you have to call the front desk and have someone bring up a code every 2 hours. Two massive thumbs down.

If you are thinking about taking the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh or the other way, DON'T!!! I heard that its better than the bus, so the only way I could recommend is to fly. And when you get to Phnom Penh, stay anywhere else besides the Foreign Correspondents Club. WAY OVER RATED!!! The FCC Angkor looked very nice and the next time I am in Siem Reap, I may try it, but this one is a dump.

I arrived on Friday, a bit later than I planned, but then I am leaving a similar amount of time later today so i guess it all worked out. When I got to the airport I was told I just missed check-in time. Yeah, even though every sign in the Kuala Lumpur airport mentions a crazy 10 minute limit, I was subjected to a more internationally accepted 45 minute limit. So I had to change the ticket...100 Euros. OK, no big deal, except the average Malay seems to be paying one tenth that for an entire round trip ticket. So I change the ticket and get ready to wait an extra 6 hours in the airport.

Waiting that long was especially tough as I have had such little sleep the past week while working the Captaris International Partner Conference. Its all over now and my vacation starts with a 6 hour layover. I took some pictures of the airport, then hunkered down in a lounge for the wait. At boarding time I was joined by a few dozen Korean teens on some sort of school trip. As soon as they saw the security line at checkin open, they created this Great Wall of bodies, interconnected chest to back for 30 feet. It wasn't until their chaperone interceded that I had a way through to the metal detectors.

Inside the waiting area, I watched these kids keep themselves amused. They all had different variations of messy Bruce Lee haircuts and a few were bigger and possibly older than the others. You could see that everyone took their lead. These leaders were the best at the "flick a playing card with two fingers and send it flying across the room" skill and all the others were trying their best to achieve their results. There were cards hovering all over the place. When a card nearly hit me, everyone huddled to figure out who would have to get it. Eventually one sheepishly approached, apologized profusely, grabbed the card and crept back to his group. I felt like asking him to show me how to flick the card like that, but then boarding time was called and the rush to the plane began.

The flight itself was uneventful and after an hour and a half we reached Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The humidity oozed into the plane and I was sweating almost before I could get out of the cabin. The airport is a simple one. Exit the plane and join either the line for transfers to Cambodia and other places, or join the one for immigration. Both lines were within 50 feet of the plane. So I went to immigration. After waiting quite a while in line, my immigration agent looked over my passport very carefully. All his concentration went to figuring out why I might be a bad guy and should not be admitted to the country. The one thing that broke his focus, along with all the other agents, was the American woman with the almost see-thru top walking past. It was like a line of 10 smiling bobbleheads turning to follow her. Eventually she passed and I was allowed to leave. I got a cab into town and arrived at my hotel: The Sheraton Saigon.

Although the name of the city officially changed to Ho Chi Minh, everything here geared towards tourists seems to be named for Saigon. It certainly rolls off the tongue a bit more easily. The first thing I noticed was that drivers here rely on three car features more than any others: the accelerator, the steering wheel, and the car horn. And the horn needs to be easily activated with a single thumb since it will be used so much. As you enter an intersection, come across another obstacle, or simply every 20 feet, you honk. Its just the thing to do apparently if you want to survive a trip. Everyone is honking...constantly. And all driving rules appear to be merely suggestions. A one way sign means it is suggested that all traffic go in a single direction as indicated by the arrow. There are plenty of cars that ignore this suggestion and everyone gets out of the rogue driver's way. A red light is a suggestion to stop, but plenty of cars speed on through, knowing that a honk is good enough to guarantee safety. I am amazed that anyone survives, but after 2 days I have yet to see an accident.

My first order of business upon getting here was to arrange transport to Siem Reip in Cambodia. I just missed the last seat on the last bus out on Sunday. My next opportunity to get a bus ride would arrive in SR on Tuesday afternoon. No good. My only other choice was a flight with Vietnam Airlines. I am a bit worried about this flight but its a big Airbus plane so its unlikely that they are eager to crash it and I hope to see the shadows of Angkor Wat by evening.

My hotel room here is ok, nothing amazing, and certainly not worth the price they are charging. I actually paid with Starwood points and at 10,000 points for one person per night I am not at all happy. The concierge staff almost makes up for it. They are fantastic. All of their recommendations have been amazing. Dinner at the Temple Club was incredible and the meal at Hoi An was similarly stellar. At Hoi An I saw something that was a bit strange and required much though. There was a large group of women having dinner together. What was strange was that they were all well dressed and they had similar accents. Their clothes made me think they were residents, possibly embassy staff and wives. But their accents, mostly American SouthEast (Georgia/Florida) made them seem more like friends from home on a trip together. Embassy staff would come from all over the country, and vacationers would live from a suitcase and not be able to dress nicely. It was very tough to figure out and kept my mind working for the entire meal. I never did find out.

These two days have been an interesting experience. I have seen enough to know that I never want to return HCM City. That said, I am eager to return to Vietnam and see the rest of the country. By all accounts, Hanoi seems to be the more elegant and interesting city. And the countryside seems to definitely be the highlight. Its been a good two days and a great start to the week off.

I arrived here in Dubai about a week ago and my first impression of the place hit me early on. Although the gangway was airconditioned and it was close to midnight, I could feel the heat and humidity pressing down on me. But I was expecting that. Actually part of me was happy to just land. It was a very long flight. I have no status on KLM (which should change after my trip to Singapore next month) so I was in the back of the bus. Thankfully I wasn’t in a middle seat, but the rather large guy who WAS in the middle seat kept reminding me he was there. There wasn’t any chance of changing seats because EVERY SINGLE SEAT WAS TAKEN. I haven’t seen such a packed flight in a very long time. I had no idea Dubai would be so popular.

The plane was a 777–200, and came into service just two weeks earlier. But the downside to that was that the software was still a bit buggy according to the flight staff. Hopefully it was only the entertainment system that had flaws. It worked for the first 10 minutes of the flight, enough for me to watch their lonely planet episode on Dubai. For the rest of the time we were limited to one movie at a time, and no audio apart from the movie audio. I had hoped to catch up on some reading on my laptop, but this also happened to be the most tightly configured seating arrangement I had ever experienced. There was zero leg room (even worse than the old Miami-Tallahassee Piedmont Air flights I suffered through 10 years ago). Oh well, time to catch up on podcasts on my Carbon. 

The flight itself was fairly uneventful, but I was a bit worried when we hit some nasty turbulence over Iraq. Yes, this flight went right over Baghdad. I looked down, but all I saw were clouds.

I was here to teach a Rightfax class as well as a Alchemy class. Two classes, back to back. and the day before I flew here I finished another Rightfax class in Vianen. Today is Friday and the beginning of the weekend here so I get to relax a bit. Today I am planning on visiting the Dubai Museum which is located very close to the Sheraton Four Points where I am staying. Later this afternoon I am taking whats called a “Desert Safari”. This is really just an excuse to surf the sand dunes in a bunch of Land Cruisers. I think dinner is provided as well. Tomorrow I think a little snowboarding is scheduled with a coworker here. Yes, snowboarding. There is a ski area here in the middle of the desert. I will be sure to take the camera.

I have had my camera with me all week, but really most of what I have seen has either been inside my hotel, inside the ExecuTrain facilities on Oud Metha, or in a mall somewhere at night. Thats either because I have been so crazy busy with these classes, or because that’s most of what’s here. Life here seems to revolve around the mall. I am picturing a Dubai-based SoCal Valley Girl and trying to imagine the accent. Driving around the city, Ghassan, one of my colleagues based here, kept pointing out malls. I asked about older parts of the city and there aren’t that many. He said if I want to see what it looked like before, I need to visit Heritage City, a mock up of what it used to look like before the high rises started sprouting a couple decades ago.

Today there are skyscrapers everywhere you look. A few nights ago we went to the Marina near Internet City after dinner at the Madinet Jumeira and an hour of shisha. Standing there overlooking the water I could see towers being built in every direction. If you could peel away the first group of buildings, there would be another layer of towers being built behind it. I was told 25% of all the worlds tall cranes are here in Dubai. Looking around that night I can believe it. In most cities around the US, there may be one or two of these tall building cranes. No matter where you stand here in Dubai you are almost guaranteed to see 50 without moving.

Well, its 9:30 AM and I spent a bit of this morning finalizing my next trip to Singapore and Australia. Now I am going to head out the this Heritage Village place and the Dubai Museum. Now I start having fun….